Protest Against Hungary Cutting Abortion Budget

Dear Friend!

One of the coalition parties in the Hungarian government is introducing an amendment to Hungary’s budget for 2012 that would delete the amount set aside for subsidizing abortions. Please sign the following letter to be sent to Hungarian Prime Minister Orbán Viktor requesting to stop this amendment.

We will send the letter with your name, city and profession on the week of 12 december 2011.

The fields you have to fill in below are: first name, surname, city, country, e-mail and profession.

Best regards,

Gábor Kuszing, Patent Association, www.patent.org.hu
Stefánia Kapronczay, Hungarian Civil Liberties Union, www.tasz.hu

 

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Dear Mr Prime Minister!

I am writing to express my concern that two Hungarian MPs of your coalition partner KDNP are introducing an amendment to the bill on Hungary’s 2012 budget to delete the 400 million forints (1.374 million euros) originally planned to support the medical bills of women who cannot afford to pay an abortion. Currently the mandatory health insurance covers only the cost of abortions carried out on health related grounds. If the pregnancy is the result of a crime or if the abortion is requested in case of the woman’s serious crisis situation, the price has to be covered by the woman, however she can ask for a reduction or waiver based on her socioeconomic situation. It is this option that your colleagues at KDNP want to abolish.

Deleting this amount from next year’s budget will deprive the poorest and most defenceless of women and girls from exercising some control over when and how they wish to have a baby. Most of this subsidy covers the abortion costs of teenage girls who often live in poverty or in children’s homes, and of other women who are so poor that paying 29,710 forints (102 euros) for an abortion is a problem for them. These girls and women could easily lose their chance to get a proper education or to raise their already existing children if they were to give birth to another child, and they could be exposed to a deeper level of poverty.

Therefore we are requesting you to stop this amendment by speaking up against it and by instructing members of your party to vote against it.

Sincerely,

[signatures]